MUST SEE FILM:Islands at Risk: Genetic Engineering in HawaiiA film by Earthjustice, 2006The film can be viewed in its entirety online at:http://www.earthjustice.org/news/multimedia/video1/page.jsp?itemID=29841806

To purchase the DVD:http://www.namaka.com/catalog/environment/genetic.html

How did a place so blessed by nature (Hawaii) find itself targeted, in the chilling words of one activist, as a "national and international sacrifice area for biotech and genetic modification research"? How did its fertile fields get to be occupied by monocultures of experimental plants with Guantanamo-style bags over their heads? Answer: by stealth. A film by the Hawaiian nonprofit environmental law firm Earthjustice, Islands at Risk, features an interview with local hunter and activist Walter Ritte, who says, "We knew nothing about GMO until one day there was a rumour that there were strange things being grown in our cornfields. The whole farming community was changing and we didn't even know." In a process subsidized by US taxpayers and assisted by the state government of Hawaii, the islands' soils have become the open-air laboratories of chemical and biotech giants DuPont, Monsanto, Dow, and Syngenta, for the testing of GM crops.

The film shows that the entire enterprise has been cloaked in secrecy from the start. Even lawmakers are not allowed to know what is being planted and where. What is known is that on the island of Oahu, over 2000 field tests of GM crops have taken place. These include pharma plants producing AIDS, hepatitis and swine diarrhoea vaccines, and crops producing industrial compounds. And the experimental fields are within spitting distance of residential areas, schools and old people's homes. The industry claims it's safe as there is no rising incidence of disease. But this is exposed in the film as a lie. Lorrin Pang, MD and consultant to the World Health Organization, points out that the ten years since GMOs have been introduced have seen rises in prematurity, cancers, attention deficit disorder, and adult onset diabetes in children. Pang adds that no one can draw any conclusions as to the cause, as GMOs in food are not labeled.

Friday, September 25, 2009

What is Food Sovereignty?Food sovereignty is the right of individuals, communities and countries to define their own food, agriculture, fishing, labor and land policies. These food and land policies are socially, ecologically, economically and culturally appropriate to the people who define them. Food sovereignty also guarantees people the right to produce their own food and to have access to necessary food-producing resources like seeds, land and water.

Food security is different than food sovereignty in that it is not culturally specific, and it does not guarantee people the right to produce their own food under ecologically, socially, culturally and economically appropriate circumstances. (RAN factsheet)

What does Food Sovereignty have to do with Climate Change?Before we let the energy companies colonize our agricultural land touting questionably climate friendly solutions like agrofuels, lets look a little at some of the deep seeded issues within our current food system that are not only perpetuating climate change but will be impacted and taxed greatly as the climate changes.

Our current food system relies heavily on fossil fuel derived fertilizers and pesticides, gas guzzling farm machinery, and transporting farm inputs and products over long distances. The average food item bought at a supermarket has traveled on average over 1,500 miles. The modern agricultural system is completely unsustainable as the climate continues to change due to the excessive burning of fossil fuels by humans.

No one knows exactly what will happen as climate change takes shape, but we can predict that climate change will have an affect on how, what, and where we grow food. Many areas will be plagued by drought or floods or both and the acreage of the earth suitable for agriculture will shift, perhaps dramatically.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The current bill sitting in congress right now is known as HR 875 - designed supposedly to make foods more safe. Effectively, what this bill does is give power to the large agri-businesses and lobbyists from Monsanto, ADM Cargill and other factory farm organizations to regulate food. It also takes power away from the states and gives more power to the federal government. It is a scary proposal which will certainly affect organic growers, home gardeners and even hunters. And the worst part yet is that it clearly is going to be a partisan vote. I am urging you to read into the whole bill, and encourage your colleagues to do the same. This could be a devastating and dangerous way to control food "safety." (Full text: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-875)Pay special attention to

* Section 3 which is the definitions portion of the bill-read in it's entirety. * section 103, 206 and 207- read in it's entirety.

Red flags found and there's sure to be more...........

* Legally binds state agriculture depts to enforcing federal guidelines effectively taking away the states power to do anything other than being food police for the federal dept. * Effectively criminalizes organic farming but doesn't actually use the word organic. * Affects anyone growing food even if they are not selling it but consuming it. * Affects anyone producing meat of any kind including the processing wild game for personal consumption. * Legislation is so broad based that every aspect of growing or producing food can be made illegal. There are no specifics which is bizarre considering how long the legislation is. * Section 103 is almost entirely about the administrative aspect of the legislation. It will allow the appointing of officials from the factory farming corporations and lobbyists and classify them as experts and allow them to determine and interpret the legislation. Who do you think they are going to side with? * Section 206 defines what will be considered a food production facility and what will be enforced up all food production facilities. The wording is so broad based that a backyard gardener could be fined and more. * Section 207 requires that the state's agriculture dept act as the food police and enforce the federal requirements. This takes away the states power and is in violation of the 10th amendment.

We need your help to revolutionize school lunches across America! Sign the Healthy School Lunch petition today.

All students have the right to have vegetarian and vegan meals available in their schools. But for 30 million children their only options are artery-clogging, high-cholesterol meats and tainted rBHG dairy products. These bad foods are unfair and risk their health over the long run. Now is the time to ask Congress for the healthy school lunches that students deserve.

Ask Congress to amend the Child Nutrition Act to help schools provide students school lunches with more vegetables, fruits, vegetarian foods, and healthful nondairy beverages.

Published on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 by USA TodayGAO Audit: Schools Slow to Get Alerts About Tainted Food

by Peter Eisler and Blake Morrison

Federal agencies that supply food for 31 million schoolchildren fail to ensure that tainted products are pulled quickly from cafeterias, a federal audit obtained by USA TODAY finds.

The delays raise the risk of children being sickened by contaminated food, according to the audit by Congress' Government Accountability Office.

In recent recalls, including one this year in which salmonella-infected peanut butter sickened almost 700 people, the government failed to disseminate "timely and complete notification about suspect food products provided to schools through the federal commodities program," the audit says.

Such alerts sometimes took more than a week to reach schools, "during which time (schools) unknowingly served affected products." (Full Text: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-09-22-school-lunches_N.htm?csp=34)

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Irradiated FoodIrradiated fruits and vegetables benefit the packer and grocer, not the farmer or consumer. The consumer receives an inferior product that appears fresh, but has depleted vitamins and enzymes.Action AlertFDA Approves Irradiated Lettuce and SpinachMake your voice heard! Learn More on alternatives to irradiation. http://www.organicconsumers.org/

New site features the latest food safety and recall information from across the government

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack, the co-chairs of the Obama Administration’s Food Safety Working Group, unveiled a new consumer Web site today at www.foodsafety.gov. The site is designed to help consumers and families get all the latest information on food safety and food recalls in one convenient place.

WASHINGTON - September 22 2009- Despite rising public concern over childhood obesity, food companies, through an industry-funded self-regulatory group, have proposed a set of "principles" by which the companies can use a variety of approaches to market junk food to children in schools. The nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest today urged the industry group to go back to the chalk board and consider whether Ronald McDonald truly belongs in the classroom. Also today, a bill introduced in Congress would require the Department of Education to conduct a thorough assessment of school-based food marketing.

The legislation introduced today, sponsored by Representatives Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and Todd Platt (R-PA), would require the U.S. Department of Education, along with the Division of Adolescent and School Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to assess the nutritional quality of foods available in schools and the forms of food marketing in schools. The legislation is supported by a broad coalition of national and state health groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, and the Trust for America’s Health. ###Since 1971, the Center for Science in the Public Interest has been a strong advocate for nutrition and health, food safety, alcohol policy, and sound science.

Government Failed To Evaluate Environmental and Economic Risks of Monsanto ProductCourt Finds USDA Violated Federal Law by Allowing Genetically Engineered Sugar Beets on the Market

SAN FRANCISCO - September 22, 2009 -In a case brought by Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice representing a coalition of farmers and consumers, a Federal Court ruled yesterday that the Bush USDA’s approval of genetically engineered (GE) “RoundUp Ready” sugar beets was unlawful. The Court ordered the USDA to conduct a rigorous assessment of the environmental and economic impacts of the crop on farmers and the environment. (full article: http://tiny.cc/8pkIw )

We love the Yes Men. Now they've blanketed New York City with one million hoax New York Posts - thanks to 2000 activist volunteers - shrieking about the coming calamity of climate change, deadly heat waves, extreme flooding and all. They pulled off their latest very cool, hopefully eye-opening stunt one day before a UN summit set to address global warming. The paper's fake, the facts are real. They're scary. Read all about it. http://www.commondreams.org/--Abby Zimet

Monday, September 21, 2009

CAFO'S (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) are known to be some of the greatest greenhouse gas (methane especially -animal crepetation -aka: farts) and water polluters "Manure Lagoons" (-make you want to dive into those luscious waters?) are UNREGULATED and dump RIGHT INTO WATERWAYS! on the planet. Now there is a petition to regulate these violators of only the air pollution (bring on the petition for WATER & Land POLLUTION, while you're at it!) Why is there still no regulation? http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/09/21-14CONTACT: Friends of the EarthKate McMahon, 202-222-0715, kmcmahon@foe.org

Did you know that cattle are routinely fed the waste from the floor of commercial chicken houses? That's feces, feathers, spilled feed, straw, dirt and anything else on the floor under the cramped birds.

Chicken farmers have more chicken waste than they know what to do with. And cattle feedlots are always on the lookout for cheap feed. In fact, an estimated one billion pounds of chicken waste are shoveled in front of cattle on feedlots each year.

The practice of feeding chicken waste to cattle is both disgusting and unsafe. It must end.

"In 2006, the food and beverage industry spent $1.6 billion advertising to children and teens. Of that amount, $870 million was spent on ads geared to children under 12, according to University of Illinois professor, and the director of the U of I’s Family Resiliency Center, Barbara H. Fiese. In addition to her research on marketing toward children, Fiese is author of a new report that urges local, state, and federal governments, businesses, as well as community leaders to start promoting family mealtimes as a matter of public policy."

Check out the full article: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/food-fights-who-is-winning-the-fight-for-your-families-stomach.html